Top Ten Books I'd Like to See Made Into Movies

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and The Bookish was originally done on April 2011 (wow, I've been doing this meme a long time!)  Here is my original list, plus a few comments:

1. Oryx and Crake, 2. The Year of the Flood – I’d like to see both books made into movies. I think they’d be horrific and disturbing and fantastic films. They’d (hopefully) be the kind of movie that makes an impact, where you never really forget the story, just like the books.

Comment: This still holds.  I don't know if it will ever happen, though.  I'm reading MaddAddam right now and so far could be added to the list too.

3. The Hunger Games – Oh wait. They’re already making this into a movie. Yay! It better be good.

Comment: I really enjoyed The Hunger Games movie and I'm looking forward to Catching Fire.

4. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Oh wait. They’ve already made a Swedish movie, now we’re just waiting for the “Hollywood Blockbuster” to come out. I’ve heard the Swedish movie is amazing. The Hollywood movie better be good.

Comment: I never got around to seeing either version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  I don't know why.

5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell – Though parts of the book dragged, if you take some of it out, this would make for an exciting movie.

Comment: I think this would still make a good movie, but after reading some awesome books in the last couple years, I might replace it with John Scalzi's Redshirts.

6. Wicked – It’s a musical already, but it’s not as close to the book or as dark as the book. I think a movie could really show Elphaba at her best and worst.

Comment: I would still love to see a dark, movie version of Wicked.

7. Remember Me? – This one might make up for not having a great interpretation of Confessions of a Shopaholic I think the premise and outcome are unique and interesting. It wouldn’t be another formulaic chick-flick.

Comment: I think someone did a TV show with this sort of premise.  It didn't work out.  Instead, I think I'd like to see Wither, though I don't think a movie that has pregnant teenagers would fly.

8. The Paper Bag Princess – If they’ve done Where The Wild Things Are, why not The Paper Bag Princess? Let’s give the girls someone fantastic to look up to. It’s one of my favourite children’s books and I think a movie of it could be wonderful.

Comment: I still would love to see a movie about Elizabeth besting a dragon.

9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – This would be so awesome.

Comment:  I don't know if this movie is ever going to happen.  It was, then it wasn't, and now I don't know.

10. A Series of Unfortunate Events – I know they did a movie encompassing the first three books, which was fantastic. I enjoyed the performances of Jim Carrey, Glenn Close and the actors who played the Baudelaire siblings. They’d probably have to start over since the actors have aged so much, but they’re such wonderful books, I think it would be worth it.

Comment: I think a movie of Who Could It Be At This Hour? would be pretty cool instead.

What books would you like to see made into movies?  For those who did this topic before, do your choices still hold?

Let's Get To Know Each Other: Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

This week The Broke and The Bookish want to know who we think are the Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recognition.  I did this topic way back in March 2011; I won't repeat authors.  I didn't even make it to ten last time. Can I 2+ years later?  I'm going to include along with the author's name, something they've written that I've enjoyed.  In no particular order.

1. Lauren DeStefano - The Chemical Garden Trilogy

2. Miriam Toews - A Complicated Kindness

3. Morgan Rhodes - Falling Kingdoms

4. Colleen McCullough - The Thorn Birds

5. Katherine Mansfield - The Garden Party

6. Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God

7. Khaled Hoseinni - And The Mountains Echoed

8. Richard Ford - Canada

9. Octavia Butler - Kindred

10. Donna Morrissey - The Deception of Livvy Higgs

I reached ten!  I know some of these authors have won awards and have multiple books under their belt, but a lot of them I don't see on other blogs.  I don't read about them in newspapers and magazines.  I try to talk about them in real life with people and they don't know who they are!  For some of these authors, if it wasn't for Goodreads or my attraction to pretty/interesting book covers, I might not even know about them.  Some are "classic" authors that have been forgotten when others are constantly discussed.  Each of those ten books I loved, for different reasons, and I would recommend them.

Who do you think deserves more recognition?

Let's Go! My Top Ten Books Featuring Travel In Some Way

I'm doing this week's Top Ten in order to challenge myself.  Before compiling this list, I didn't think I read a lot of books that involve travelling and I was right.  It's not something I've ever looked for specifically.  After looking at the books I've read, I'm going to tweak this list a little.  I'm going to make this a bit more about "journeys" than about "travel", though they will still be a type of physical journey.  Here are my Top Ten Books Featuring Travel In Some Way, in no particular order:

1. Canada, by Richard Ford - Going from a town in Montana to the middle-of-nowhere Saskatchewan can be quite interesting.

2. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, by Sophie Kinsella - Becky is excited to go to Manhattan and manages to bring all her London problems with her.

3. Prodigy, by Marie Lu - Traveling through dystopic America, an interesting contrast between two sides/extremes of the country.

4. Fever, by Lauren DeStefano - Another pair traveling through a different dystopic America, one that's really unsettling and possibly even more dangerous.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis - Takes us through Narnia.  I'd love to visit.

6. World War Z, by Max Brooks - We travel around the world, post-Zombie War, aka World War Z.

7. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel - If you count floating around in the ocean as travel.

8. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien - They certainly travel far and there's a lot of walking.

9. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King - The Ka-Tet travels farther than any other in Mid-World.

10. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger - TIME Travel.

What books have you read about travel?  Do you have any recommendations for me?

Sever

This is all going to be a bit spoilery, but I'll try to keep it vague.

Sever is Lauren DeStefano's final installment of the Chemical Garden Trilogy. I have been wanting to know what will happen to Rhine for what feels like ages. I definitely expected what happened to Vaughn, thought didn't expect how it happened. I pretty much figured out what the "Chemical Garden" was after I read Fever. I can't believe what happened to Linden. What happened to Gabriel was a big surprise.  I expected Rhine to spend half the book looking for him and the other half looking for her brother.  I have to say, I did not at all expect the twist with Rowan and Vaughn.  Everything was Vaughn!  Ahh!

I really enjoyed how the characters grew over the three books.  Rhine matured, wanting more than just to find her brother, but that remained her main motivation.  Linden learned so much. Gabriel did too.  Cecily was wonderful.  We really get a feeling of closure by the end, we know what happens to all the crazy people we encounter.  I also really liked that the "love triangle" wasn't really a triangle.. it was more like a hexagon!  I did like that it was never about Linden versus Gabriel.  I also liked that each had their own time to really get to know Rhine and Rhine to know them.  It was a wonderfully satisfying conclusion.  I'm looking forward to more work by Lauren DeStefano, now that The Chemical Garden has been harvested.

Flowers and Birds! (Top Ten Books for Spring 2013)

The sun is brighter, the days are warmer and growing long. Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming.  What are you reading?  This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and The Bookish is: what books are on your spring to-be-read list.  In no particular order:

1. The Wind Through The Keyhole, by Stephen King

2. A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

3. The Deception of Livvy Higgs, by Deborah Morrissey

4. Prodigy, by Marie Lu

5. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

6. Sever, by Lauren DeStefano

7. The Thousand Orcs, by R.A. Salvatore

8. Bodily Harm, by Margaret Atwood

9. The Raven Boys, by Maggie Steifvater

10. Falling Kingdoms, by Morgan Rhodes.

This seems like a pretty good order in which to read these books this spring.  Though I might switch 1, 2, 3, and 4 depending on how I feel after my current read... Or maybe I'll read 6 next.  Who knows?!  If I buy another book (highly probable), it could change everything.

What are you going to be reading this spring?

I Want ALL Your Books: The Authors On My Auto Buy List

The topic from The Broke and The Bookish: "Top Ten Authors That I'd Put On My Auto-Buy List (basically an auto-buy list is no questions asked..you love this author so much that no matter what they wrote next you'd buy regardless of genre or subject matter) "

I'm not sure I have ten authors on my Auto-Buy list.  I also don't tend to buy a lot of new releases.  I already own so many books.... I often wait for sales/specials so as to slow the hoarding...  There are also some authors I love that have large back catalogues.  So I aim to eventually buy all their books, but that takes time and money.  

In no particular order, here is my Auto-Buy List.

1. Stephen King (So many books!)

2. Margaret Atwood (See above!)
3. Michael Ondaatje (I haven't read his newest novel yet.)

4. Alice Munro (Working through her many books.)

5. Lauren DeStefano (Probably the newest addition.)

6. Sophie Kinsella (But not Madeline Wickham?  I haven't actually read anything under Wickham, only Kinsella....)

7. J.K. Rowling (I liked The Causal Vacancy)

8 Veronica Roth might make it on to this list.

I couldn't make it to ten.  Maybe I'm too discriminating... maybe I'm too poor.

Who is on your Auto-Buy List?

End of Year Book Survey.

I'm so excited to be doing Jamie's End of the Year Book Survey.  I enjoyed it last year.  I find it a nice way to reflect back on a year of reading, as well as other stuff that happened, that you might have blogged about.  Do you agree/disagree with any of my answers?  Please leave a comment!  Also, let me know if you've done the survey too.  Happy Holidays!

1. Best Book You Read In 2012?

I decided to go with Jamie’s suggestion (cheat) of breaking it down by genre. I read some really great books this year. This list isn’t even half of them.

Best Children’s Book – Go Away, Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberly
Best Zombie Book – World War Z, by Max Brooks
Best Non-Fiction – How To Be A Woman, by Caitlin Moran
Best Classic – Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Best Short Story Collection – Forty Stories, edited by Cal Morgan
Best Literary/General Fiction – Canada, by Richard Ford
Best Fantasy – The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis
Best Science-Fiction – Insurgent, by Veronica Roth

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling – It was slow to begin with, but it did pick up. In the end, I did enjoy it, but I didn’t love it. You can read my thoughts here.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?

I knew I would probably like Night of the Living Trekkies, but I didn’t know how much I would love it. I loved every single quirky, geeky reference. It was so much fun!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

For people who like literary fiction, I probably recommended Canada, by Richard Ford.
For genre lovers, I recommended Night of the Living Trekkies and Divergent…. and maybe World War Z.

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?

Divergent! I can’t wait until the third book is out.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

Is this new to me - like the Top Ten list I did recently - or new as in first book? For new-to-me, check out my Top Ten list from December 11th.

If it’s first books, then I really enjoyed The Maladjusted, by Derek Hayes. Also Darcy Pattison’s non-fiction picture book, Wisdom, the Midway Albatross.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I read a lot of genres, but something I don’t read a lot of is non-fiction and I actually read three this year!  My favourite was How To Be A Woman, by Caitlin Moran. So fantastic.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

I read a few unputdownable books this year including: Divergent, Insurgent, How to be a Woman and Night of the Living Trekkies.

9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:

I don’t re-read a lot. If I do, it’s likely not a book that I only read a year before. But to answer the question, of all the books, I’d most likely re-read Night of the Living Trekkies.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

I can’t decide between:

Insurgent and World War Z.

11. Most memorable character in 2012?

Frankenstein’s creature from Frankenstein.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?

Canada, by Richard Ford

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?

Greatest impact? How To Be A Woman and maybe The Causal Vacancy.  They dealt with social issues, that continue to resonate with me.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited until 2012 to finally read?

The Garden Party and Other Stories, by Katherine Mansfield.  She was the only writer Virginia Woolf said she was jealous off.  How did I wait so long to read her?

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?

"Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot?" 
- Dr. Van Helsing from Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?

By Page Count:
Longest: 541 – City of Glass, The Mortal Instruments #3, by Cassandra Clare
Shortest: 16 – I Love You, Stinky Face, by Lisa McCourt (Children's Book) OR 112 – Matchless, by Gregory Maguire

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling… so many WTF scenes.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

For very different reasons: 

Jim Pike & Leia, from Night of the Living Trekkies
Mina and Van Helsing, from Dracula
Sukvinder and Gaia, from The Causal Vacancy

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously

Blockade Billy, by Stephen King
Fever, by Lauren DeStefano

20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

Like I said previously, I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. If I wasn’t recommended How To Be A Woman by a few bloggers I like and respect, as well as one of my real-life friends, whose reading tastes are very similar to mine, I don’t know if I would have picked it up.

Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2012 

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2012?

Probably Bridget’s Books.  I only just started following this contributor to The Broke and The Bookish. She has an entire reading project about Stephen King! So awesome.


2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2012?

If I have to pick one, I’d say, Forty Stories, edited by Cal Morgan. I did Twitter sized reviews. It was fun.

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

The best discussions/comments I had this year weren't on posts about books.  There were on my posts: Image Use, where I talked about copyright and someone getting sued for using images on their website and I Am Without Job, where I talked about getting laid off this year.

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?

I read the blog, Feminist Philosophers a lot.  It's not a book blogs, though they discuss books sometimes.  I always find myself diving into their posts about genderized products.  I especially enjoyed reading about the new "BiC for Her" pen.  It's so awful.  Ellen even made a video about it on her show a few months back.  

5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

I don’t get a lot of event in my neck of the woods. I’d have to drive an hour to go to any bookish events and with the little ones, that’s not happening.  I do enjoy Short Story Monday and Top Ten Tuesday.  I participate in them as often as I can, but it's been a while since I did Short Story Monday.  There's a story I plan on reading this week...

6. Best moment of book blogging in 2012?

Even though it’s not bookish, it happened because I blog about books -I appreciate all the support I got when I posted about losing my job. Thank you again, everyone.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

By views, my most popular post was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Such a great book.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

This one is a little difficult. I feel pretty loved. My posts get an okay amount of views (okay to me, I guess). In general, I’d like more comments and more discussions about the books (or whatever) I’ve posted about. But there isn’t one post that’s fallen by the wayside. So thanks for the love everyone!

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

I just started using Goodreads this year. It’s a little addictive. I love scanning books with the Goodreads app. I like tracking my progress through a book; I find it encouraging.

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

I don’t join challenges, but I set myself a personal goal of reading 26 books (one every two weeks), which I decided to track on Goodreads since joining this year. I’m at 32 right now. I might get to 33 or 34 before the end of 2012.

Looking Ahead…

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?

Hmm… Number 1 Priority?? I plan on reading His Dark Materials next. However, I did buy The Raven Boys a couple months ago and didn’t read it right away. I don’t want to let it sit on my shelf too long like some other books I have.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?

Though I’m excited for Dead Ever After (I'm loving the cover) and Divergent #3, the book I’m most looking forward to in 2013 is Sever, by Lauren DeStefano. I loved Wither and Fever had me longing for more. Just a couple more months until February!

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?

I want to read more. I’d like to decrease the number of books I’ve owned for years and haven’t read yet. I’d especially like to read more Stephen King and Margaret Atwood and catch up on the Legend of Drizzt, by R. A. Salvatore.

I guess that’s it for the survey. Thanks to everyone who made it all the way to the end. See you in the blogosphere!

Top Ten Books I’m Excited For In 2013

This week The Broke and The Bookish want to know what books we're most excited to read in 2013.  My list might be different than what everyone else is putting down.  I honestly don’t tend to read a lot of new releases.  I might only read one or two a year.  So, I’m breaking the list into two parts –

Part 1 - Books that will be released in 2013 that I’m excited to read.

1. Dead Ever After, by Charlaine Harris - The final book in the Sookie Stackhouse series! (May 2013)
2. The Clockwork Princess, by Cassandra Clare - The final book in The Infernal Devices trilogy. (May 2013)
3. Sever, by Lauren DeStefano - The final book in the Chemical Garden trilogy.  I'm so excited to read this one! (February 2013)
4. Divergent #3, by Veronica Roth - No title yet...  Also, another final book. (September 2013)

Part 2: Books that are sitting on my shelves that I need to read in 2013.

5. Everything's Eventual, by Stephen King
6. Bodily Harm, by Margaret Atwood
7. The Deception of Livvy Higgs, by Donna Morrissey
8. Fool, by Christopher Moore
9. The Thousand Orcs, by R.A. Salvatore
10. City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare

I was tempted to add Undead and Underwater, by MaryJanice Davidson (March 2013), but I'm not caught up in the series yet, so I don't know if I'd definitely read that book next year.  I'm often a mood driven reader.

What are you looking forward to reading?

Talking About Myself: A Quick Bookish Survey

I saw this quick little update/list over at The Broke and The Bookish yesterday.  I’ve read three of the five books Kelly mentioned.  It’s a nice, fun update, but I had to really think about number five.  For someone who has a slight book obsession, I haven’t gotten that many bookish gifts in the last year or two. 

1.  Book I Am Currently Reading:  Forty Stories, edited by Cal Morgan.  Forty Stories is probably the main reason I’m doing this survey.  I just want to tell everyone about it.  The ebook is a FREE collection of forty short stories by forty different authors.  Some have books out, some don’t.  They are fantastic stories (I have about a fifth of the book left).  I think these are the authors at their best.  They are intense, fascinating stories and I’d be happy to read a book by (almost) all of these people.

 

2.  The Last Book I Finished:  City of Glass (Mortal Instruments 3) by Cassandra Clare.  So good!  (Review here.)

3.  The Next Book I Want To Read:  I haven’t quite decided which book I’d like to read.  It will likely be either Insurgent, by Veronica Roth or Prismatic by Sarah Elle Emm (won on Goodreads).

 4.  The Last Book I Bought:  I actually just ordered a bunch of books from Chapters that were on sale.  Yay, sale!  I bought Cinder by Marissa Meyer, The Good Man Jesus and The ScoundrelChrist by Phillip Pullman and The Fall (The Strain Two) by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  I also bought a copy of Wither (which I already own) as a present for someone.

5.  The Last Book I Was Given:  The Dark Tower:The Gunslinger – The Little Sisters of Eluria, by Stephen King (plus many others).  I haven’t read it yet because it’s based on a short story that he wrote that is in the collection, Everything’s Eventual.  I have the collection beside my bed.  Why haven’t I read it yet?  I don’t know.  Maybe that should be my answer to number 3.

Thoughts?  Leave a link if you answer the questions on your site or answer them in the comments below.  Be sure to check out the answers from The Broke and The Bookish too!

It’s Always Difficult To Pick Favourites

My blog has been around a long time.  I started it back in 2006.  Six years!  I’ve read a lot of books.  As The Broke and The Bookish have requested, I’ve narrowed it down to ten (or thirteen).  You can see the progression, looking back at 2006 to now, how much more verbose I am in my reviews.  I’ve also read across the genre and age spectrum.  In no particular order, here are the Top Ten Favourite Books I’ve Read During The Lifespan of My Blog.

1. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseinni
2. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
5. 1984, by George Orwell
6. Wicked:  The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire
7. The Dark Tower III:  The Waste Lands, by Stephen King
8. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (re-read)
9. Dead to the World, by Charlaine Harris
10. The Gum Thief, by Douglas Coupland
11. The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch
12. Wither, by Lauren DeStefano
13. World War Z, by Max Brooks

I couldn’t do it!  I couldn’t just pick ten.  What are your favourite books that you’ve blogged about?

* Some of the early reviews seem to not have any spoiler warnings on them.  Oops!

*All book links lead to my reviews.

It’s Hot Out Here!

It’s been a while since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday, from the Broke and The Bookish, but I saw this week’s topic, Top Ten Beach Reads and started listing off books in my head.  There are more than ten here.  Most of the books I’ve listed are actually series.  They are in no particular order.

1. The Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins
2. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
3. Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse series, by Charlaine Harris
5. The Undead series, by MaryJanice Davidson
6. Wither and Fever, by Lauren DeStefano
7. The Legend of Drizzt series, by R.A. Salvatore
8. World War Z, by Max Brooks
9. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, by Douglas Adams

What will you be reading at the beach?

The World Over, by Lauren DeStefano

The World Over Makes me want to cry.  It is so short and so full of emotion.  I have really enjoyed the first two books in Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden trilogy.  I’m eagerly anticipating the third book.  So, when I saw that she had a few short stories on her website, I decided to read one.  I plan on reading all of them now.


What if you were the last couple on Earth?  What if you knew that both of you would die, no matter what you did and how much you loved each other?  I wonder how they got to this place.  I wonder what happened to the planet. 


You want to have hope as the story progresses, the characters are developed.  You root for them.  It was a short story that packed a lot of punch.  


Short Story Monday is hosted by John Mutford at The Book Mine Set.

Fever

Spoilers for Wither. 

I need to take a step back from Lauren DeStefano's Fever.  I've just finished and I thought it was amazing.  It left me on much more of a cliffhanger than Wither did, but I'm sure that's intentional, being the second book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy. I've come to see the Chemical Garden as Rhine's body.  So much stuff has gone in and out of her.  I also wonder if through all of this, from her parents to mad-scientist Vaughn, she isn't the Garden that is growing the cure.  This is all speculation, of course.

Really, I just couldn't put it down.  From the moment Rhine and Gabriel are out of the water, it is one scary situation after another.  They are constantly looking for safety, for escape routes, for a way home to Rhine's brother, Rowan.  Madame's carnival is horrific.  It just misses a worst nightmare, but not by much.  Having them end up there is one of the most horrible things in the story.  Fever is actually rather violent.  Someone is always hurt, or sick or something.  Fever is an apt title.

I feel sorry for Gabriel.  I don't think he really knew what he was getting into when he escaped with Rhine.  She paints an idyllic picture of what her life was like before being brought to the mansion.  He didn’t know she was fallible, that she was remembering with love.  I don't think he would necessarily have changed his mind, but I think he wishes he knew more about the outside world before he was thrust into it.  Also, I think he's unsure of Rhine's feelings for him, which is so sad, given what they've been through together.

I like the characters’ growth in the novel. I think Rhine grows as a person; she's lost whatever rose colour she had to her glasses about her home.  Though, I think the bigger change was in Gabriel.  He learns what the real world is like.  He grew up as a servant, but as a servant used to the safety of the mansion.  Gabriel doesn’t understand why demonstrators would bomb trees.

Linden also learns some of the most important lessons of his life, things he should have known years ago.  I hope in the next book he doesn't just blame Rhine and "the Attendant" for leaving him, but sees that even if Gabriel didn't go with her, Rhine would have run back to her brother anyway.  Linden has the potential to become so much more.  I’d like to see him be more than the dutiful son and to use his newly acquired knowledge for good.

The Gathering of young women/girls in this book is awful and a problem that plagues our world.  The kind of buying, selling and kidnapping DeStefano describes is eerily possible.  That is part of what I think makes a good dystopian novel.  It’s using the problems of now and amplifying them.  I don’t think DeStefano holds back.  There’s death, violence and tragedy throughout Fever.  You can really see what people could be capable of if there were no hope left in the world.  Her writing and subject matter make me forget that her book is Young Adult.

I could talk about all the amazing characters that Lauren DeStefano created, how she makes the decaying world believable, but it’s better if you read the book.  If you like a good dystopian, good writing and interesting, characters, read Wither and then read Fever.  I think it is an excellent continuation of the series and I can’t wait to read the conclusion.

I Want More!

First my post published before it was ready, then it was deleted altogether.  I also can't get rid of the background...  This post did not go smoothly...


The Broke and The Bookish really made me think this week.  I wasn't sure if I could make it, but here are the Top Ten authors I wish would [have] write[n] more. Except for the first book, they are in no particular order.

1. Harper Lee - She wrote one of the best books of the twentieth century, To Kill A Mockingbird. She's in her eighties now, with no plans to ever write a second book.
2. Lauren DeStefano - Oh, wait...  After I read Wither, I was so sad that there was nothing else by her, now I'm eagerly waiting.
3. Khaled Hosseini - It has been five years since A Thousand Splendid Suns was published, one of my favourite novels. 
4. J.R.R. Tolkien - He wrote some literary criticism and started other things, but nothing like Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
5. Emily Brontë - Love it or hate it, Wuthering Heights is an English classic.  It is a dark, moody story and I would have loved to see what else this Brontë sister could have created.
6. Alice Sebold - It has been five years since, The Almost Moon. The Lovely Bones was intense. She' only 48, What's next?
7. J.K. Rowling - How difficult must it be to even begin something new after the massive success of Harry Potter?  I do hear there is something new in the works, but who knows when that will come out.
8. Douglas Adams - I loved the Hitchhicker's series. I should read The Salmon Doubt, my husband owns a copy.
9. Stieg Larsson - I think the only mystery writer I like.
10. Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar was amazing. She also wrote brilliant poetry, but I can't help that she wrote more novels.


Who do you wish wrote more?

Which Do I Read First? The Top Ten Books I'm Eager To Read In 2012

I can't believe it's 2012 already!  It's the first Tuesday of 2012 and this week The Broke and The Bookish are asking what books are topping your list for 2012. This list might look similar to my Winter Reads list. But I'm not going to look at it, so maybe not. The list will also likely change.

1. Fever, by Lauren DeStefano. This book can't be released quickly enough.
2. World War Z, by Max Brooks. As soon as I'm done the book I'm reading now, I'm going to start it.
3. The Stand, by Stephen King. This will be the year I finally read King's big book.
4. The Little Sister of Eluria, by Stephen King. This will be the last King book on my list, I think.
5. The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson.  What has taken me so long?
6. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest, by Stieg Larsson. Really, what has taken me so long?
7. The Thousand Orcs, by R.A. Salvatore. Also, what has taken me so long?
8. The Chronicles of Narnia:  The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis.  I feel like it's taking me so long to read this series.  I've enjoyed the first four books, why haven't I finished the rest yet?
9. The Tent, by Margaret Atwood.  What's a year without Atwood?
10. Generation X, by Douglas Coupland.  I think it's about time.

What are you eager to read in 2012?